Bottle-feeding mechanism.



W. G. MUENOH.

BOTTLE FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1914.

mwwwv Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

A TTOR/i/EV WILLIAM C. MUENCH, OFINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOJR. T0 PROGRESS MACHINE I 00., OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION.

BOTTLE F'EEDING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application filed May 6, 1912, Serial No. 695,498. Divided and this application filed March 9, 1914.

Serial No. 823,540.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. MUENCH,

- a citizen of the .United States, and a resident of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of lndianzhhaveinvented a certain new and useful Bottle-Feeding Mechanism; and I do hereby declare that the fol lowing is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer to like parts.

This application is divided out of my previous application Serial No. 695,498,

dated May 6, 1912, for bottle feeding mechanism.

The object of the invention is to provide means in connection with a bottle crowning or capping machine for the accurate feeding of bottles thereto, the feeding mechanism being controlled by the crowning and capping mechanism so that the bottle will be fed to the latter at exactly the righttime.

The features of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claim.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of the upper part of the crowning head machine with the lower. and other parts omitted. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a part of the same with parts removed. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the star wheel. Fig. 1 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

In detail there is shown in the drawings a bottle crowning machine of well known construction having a hopper 12 from which the caps or crownsar'e fed through a guide 13. to the crowning heads 14 as they are moved to the proper position. The bottles to be crowned are placed upon the upper end of the plungers or bottle supports 15, each of which lies immediately below one of the crowning heads 14.

For the purpose of feeding the bottle to the crowning machine, a star wheel 16 is shaft 22 meshes, see dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3, and upon the outer end of said shaft, projecting through the front face 23 of the table 17, a sprocket wheel 24 is secured. A shaft 25 lies parallel with the shaft 22 and upon its outer end carries a sprocket wheel 26 which is driven from' the sprocket 24: by

a chain 27. Upon the inner end of the shaft 25, the driving pulley, not shown, of the c'onveyer belt 8 is secured for delivering the bottles to the star wheel 16. The loose pulley of the belt conveyer 28 is mounted as desired.

The star wheel 16 is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4. Said'wheel has a top plate 30 with peripheral notches 31 therein and U-shaped plates 32 of the same shape as the notches secured upon the under side of the top plate. A collar 33 is secured centrally of the top plate by means of which the star wheel is mounted upon the shaft 18.

A curved guide plate 34- is removably secured to the crowning machine table 11 by means of, bolts 35 extending through slotted extensions 36 from said plate. Said plate is secured substantially concentric with the star wheels 16 and extends thereaboutsubstantially 90 degrees and the lower left hand end extending over the path of the plungers 15 is cut away sufficiently to clear the crescent shaped stops 37 on said plungers 15. A curved guide plate 38 is pivotally secured to the right hand end of the guide plate 34.

and the'free end thereof is normally caused to bear against the conveyor guide 39 by a spring 40 secured to the guide 34: and bearing against the guide "38.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The crowning machine being driven in the usual manner the star wheel 16 and belt conveyer 28 will also be driven and the filled bottles delivered by hand or otherwise to the conveyor will be carried toward the star wheel 16 and will be caught between the projections thereon and will be carried to the left in the direction of the arrow, see Fig. 2, and delivered to the bottle holders or plungers'15' of the crowning machine after which they will be crowned in the usual manner. Should abottle from the .conveyer meet one of the projections on the star wheel instead of moving into the notch it will be carried to the left, but the gulde 38 will yield and the bottle will not be broken but will be yieldingly held until the next notch on the star Wheel comes opposite to'thebottle when it will be forced into said notch by the spring bearing on the guide 38. The action of the spring 40 and plate is always to move the bottle in a reverse direction to the movement of the star wheel 16 and never in the same direction. Breakage is thus prevented. As the bottle is moved by the star wheel it will be given a twisting motion upon the table 17 and will be delivered to the center of the plungers 15. This adjustment is very important for should the end of the guide 34 be set too near the star wheel 16, the bottle will be caught and crushed against theplunger stop 37. On the other band, should the guide 3 L be set too far out the bottle will not be properly centered against the plunger stop 37 and when the plunger is raised, the neck of the bottle will hit against the crowning head and will be broken. In practice it has been found necessary not only to adjust the guide 34 for each different size of bottle used, but for bottles of the same volume made by different manufacturers aswell. As the bottles are moved onto the bottle holders the necks pass into the notches of a guide wheel 142 which is secured to the main column 41 of the machine and revoluble therewith and as the bottles are discharged from the bottle holders,'the guide wheel will steady the necks and keep them tically movable through said rotary table.

and beneath the crowning heads, a conveyer for conveying the bottles to said fixed table, a star wheel on said fixed table between the conveyer and the series of bottle holders for transferring the bottles from the conveyer to the bottle holders, a bottle guide substantially concentric with said star wheel, a shaft for said star wheel, and a second star wheel on said shaft meshing with the series of crowning heads and whereby said star wheelsare actuated.

In witness whereof, I havehereunto aiiixed my signature in the presence of the witnesses herein named.

WILLIAM C. MUENCH.

Witnesses:

JAS. CARL LIEBER, O. MCLAUGHLIN. 

